obscurity of an oracle. Πλέον ήμισυ παντός. The half is more than the whole. The occasion of the speech is this: his brother Perses had by corrupting some great men (Βασιλῆας Δωροφάγους, great bribe-eaters he calls them) gotten from him the half of his estate. It is no matter, says he, they have not done me so much prejudice as they imagine.
Νήπιοι, ούδ᾽ ᾽ίσασιν ὂσφ πλέον ἤμισυ παντὁς,
Οὑδ᾽ ὂσον ἐν μαλάχη τε καἱ ἀσφοδέλῳ μεγ´ ὂνειας,
Κρύφαντες γἁρ ἒχουσι θεοἱ βίον ἀνθρώπο¨σι.
Unhappy they to whom God has not revealed
By a strong light which must their sense control,
That half a great estate's more than the whole.
Unhappy, from whom still concealed does lie
Of roots and herbs the wholesome luxury.
This I conceive to have been honest Hesiod's meaning. From Homer we must not expect much concerning our affairs. He was blind, and could neither work in the country nor enjoy the pleasures of it; his helpless poverty was likeliest to be sustained in the richest places, he was to delight the Grecians with fine tales of the wars and adventures
